Trance State

Definition

Pronunciation: TRANS STAYT

Also spelled: Shamanic State of Consciousness, SSC, Ecstatic Trance, Altered State of Consciousness

A trance state in shamanic context refers to a specific alteration of consciousness — distinct from sleep, dreaming, hypnosis, or psychotic dissociation — in which the practitioner maintains volitional awareness while perceiving and interacting with non-ordinary reality. Michael Harner termed this the Shamanic State of Consciousness (SSC) to distinguish it from the Ordinary State of Consciousness (OSC).

Etymology

The English 'trance' derives from the Old French transir (to pass away, be numb, be overcome with fear), ultimately from the Latin transire (to go across, to pass over). The etymology preserves the essential meaning: a crossing from one state of awareness to another. Eliade preferred the term 'ecstasy' (from the Greek ek-stasis, 'standing outside oneself') to describe the shamanic trance, emphasizing that the shaman's consciousness exits the body rather than shutting down. The choice between 'trance' and 'ecstasy' reflects a significant interpretive difference: trance implies a passive altered state, while ecstasy implies active departure — Eliade argued strongly for the latter.

About Trance State

Andrew Neher's 1961 and 1962 publications in the journal Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology provided the first laboratory evidence that rhythmic auditory stimulation at frequencies between 4 and 7 beats per second produces measurable changes in brain electrical activity, shifting dominant brainwave patterns from beta (13-30 Hz, associated with ordinary waking consciousness) to theta (4-7 Hz, associated with deep relaxation, hypnagogic imagery, and the transition between waking and sleeping). This finding — later confirmed and expanded by Melinda Maxfield's 1990 dissertation research — offered a neurophysiological explanation for why drumming at a specific tempo reliably induces the shamanic trance state across cultures.

The induction methods for shamanic trance are remarkably diverse. Monotonous drumming is the most widespread technique globally — used across Siberian, North American, African, and European shamanic traditions. The tempo clusters around 4-4.5 beats per second, a frequency range that appears to exploit a natural resonance in the brain's auditory processing. But drumming is only one pathway. Other documented induction methods include: sustained chanting or vocal overtone singing, repetitive body movement or dance, sensory deprivation (darkness, isolation, fasting), sensory overload (firelight flicker, multiple simultaneous rhythms), hyperventilation through controlled breathing, sustained visual fixation (flame gazing, crystal gazing), and pharmacological means (plant medicines containing DMT, psilocybin, mescaline, or ibogaine).

Felicitas Goodman, an anthropologist at Denison University, discovered in the 1970s that specific body postures — identified from ancient sculptures, cave paintings, and ethnographic descriptions — reliably produce distinct types of trance experience when combined with rhythmic stimulation. Her research, published in Where the Spirits Ride the Wind (1990), documented that a standing posture with knees slightly bent and hands on thighs consistently produced experiences of Lower World descent, while a posture with arms raised overhead produced Upper World ascent. Goodman tested these postures with hundreds of subjects across cultures and found the same postural-experiential correlations regardless of the participant's cultural background or expectations — evidence that the trance state draws on pre-cultural neurological structures.

The shamanic trance differs from other altered states in several critical respects. Unlike hypnosis, the shaman maintains full volitional control — they can direct the journey, ask questions, make decisions, and return at will. Unlike sleep and dreaming, the practitioner is conscious of being in trance and can remember the experience in detail afterward. Unlike psychotic dissociation, the trance has a clear beginning and end, serves a culturally defined purpose, and the practitioner returns to ordinary functioning without difficulty. Unlike meditation (in most forms), the trance involves active engagement with perceived entities rather than the cultivation of stillness or detachment.

The Korean mudang (female shaman) enters trance through a combination of singing, drumming, and dance that can last several hours. During the kut (shamanic ceremony), the mudang's body movements become increasingly ecstatic until a specific spirit — an ancestor, a nature spirit, or a deity — is perceived to enter and speak through her. The Korean trance tradition is explicitly possessory: the spirit displaces the mudang's ordinary consciousness and uses her body as a vehicle for communication. This contrasts with the Siberian model, where the shaman's soul departs the body to journey elsewhere. Eliade categorized these as two distinct types of shamanic trance: 'ecstasy' (soul flight) and 'possession' (spirit entry), though many traditions combine both.

In Afro-Brazilian Candomble and Haitian Vodou, trance possession is the central religious phenomenon. During ceremony, the rhythms of specific drums and songs call specific orishas or lwa (spirits/deities) to 'mount' the bodies of initiated practitioners. Each spirit has its own characteristic behavioral patterns, movements, and voice — when Ogun arrives, the person moves like a warrior; when Erzulie manifests, the person becomes seductive and weeping. The practitioners maintain that they have no memory of the possession period, distinguishing this from the shamanic journey model where recall is essential. Maya Deren's documentary and written account Divine Horsemen (1953) provides an outsider's meticulous description of this phenomenon.

The physiological markers of the shamanic trance have been studied by several research teams. In addition to the theta brainwave dominance documented by Neher and Maxfield, trance states are associated with: changes in heart rate variability, alterations in galvanic skin response, pupil dilation, reduced blink rate, changes in body temperature regulation, and measurable shifts in immune function markers. A 2013 study by Hove and colleagues published in PLoS ONE demonstrated that rhythmic auditory stimulation at theta frequencies increased functional connectivity between the auditory cortex and the prefrontal cortex — suggesting that drumming-induced trance enhances rather than diminishes neural integration.

The training required to enter and control shamanic trance varies enormously across traditions. In some lineages, trance capacity is considered a gift (or affliction) that appears spontaneously and must then be disciplined through apprenticeship. In others, it is developed methodically through years of practice under supervision. Core Shamanism as taught by the Foundation for Shamanic Studies takes the latter approach, offering systematic training in trance induction that most participants can access within their first workshop. Traditional practitioners sometimes regard this accessibility with skepticism, arguing that authentic shamanic trance requires the depth of training, suffering, and initiation that cannot be compressed into a weekend workshop.

The cultural shaping of trance content — what the practitioner perceives while in trance — is a subject of ongoing debate. Sheila Krystal's 1993 study and other research has demonstrated that cultural expectations significantly influence trance imagery: a Siberian shaman journeying on the world tree encounters a different landscape than a Brazilian ayahuasquero navigating the cosmic serpent. Yet certain features recur across cultures with enough consistency to suggest a pre-cultural substrate: the tunnel, the light, the encounter with non-human intelligences, the experience of ego dissolution, the sense of profound meaning. Whether this substrate is neurological, metaphysical, or both remains an open question that defines the boundary between scientific and spiritual interpretations of the trance state.

Significance

The trance state is the foundational technology of shamanism — the gateway without which no other shamanic practice functions. Every shamanic activity — journeying, soul retrieval, divination, healing, psychopomp work, spirit communication — requires the practitioner to shift from ordinary consciousness into a state that enables perception of non-ordinary reality. Without trance, the shaman is an ordinary person performing ordinary actions.

The neurological research into trance states represents one of the most productive intersections between scientific investigation and traditional spiritual knowledge. The discovery that rhythmic stimulation at theta frequencies reliably alters brain function provides an empirical basis for practices that shamanic cultures have used for tens of thousands of years. This convergence of traditional knowledge and modern neuroscience lends credibility to both: it validates the shamanic claim that specific techniques produce specific states, and it extends the scientific understanding of consciousness beyond its ordinary parameters.

The trance state also challenges the dominant Western model of consciousness as a single binary (awake or asleep, sane or insane). Shamanic traditions have always recognized a spectrum of consciousness states, each with its own perceptual range and practical application. The growing Western interest in altered states — through meditation, breathwork, sensory deprivation, and psychedelic research — represents a gradual recovery of this understanding.

Connections

The trance state is the prerequisite for shamanic journeying — the journey occurs within the trance. The same state enables soul retrieval, psychopomp work, and communication with power animals.

Plant medicines represent a pharmacological pathway to trance, while drumming and dance represent sonic and kinetic pathways. The vision quest uses fasting and exposure to induce trance through physiological stress.

Comparable states in other traditions include the Sufi dhikr-induced ecstasy, the yogic samadhi, and the meditative jhana states in Buddhism. The Shamanism section explores the role of trance within the full spectrum of shamanic practice.

See Also

• Animism
• Plant Medicine
• Power Animal
• Psychopomp
• Shamanic Journeying
• Soul Retrieval

Further Reading